If you would have asked me a few days ago if I thought I would be in the middle of a very dark and oppressive Gyspy ghetto in Sandanski, Bulgaria cleaning children’s filthy, snot covered face with baby wipes loving every moment of it because Jesus was speaking to me through it I would have said NO! This was my favorite part of my day on Wednesday, May 8th.
As we went outside at 10 am in the morning we were greeted by the sound of music playing in the streets. As we started to sing kids from all over the neighborhood begin to gravitate to us. Within just a few minutes there were kids everywhere. As I looked around at the children I saw many faces that were hiding under layers of dirt. So I decided to go to the store and get baby wipes so that I could spend time cleaning the faces of the children.
I got back and one at a time I called them over, and tried my best to explain that I was going to wash their face off. As I washed their faces off I smiled and told them how beautiful they were, they smiled back and gladly cooperated while I removed the dirt and crust from their faces. Some of their faces were dirtier than others but that didn’t matter to me, because they were worth cleaning.
In the moments that I was wiping their faces the Lord reminded me that He does the very same thing for us. He gently calls us to Himself and cleanses the layers of dirt with the purity of who He is. Regardless of the amount of dirt He is still willing to cleanse us and give us beauty for ashes.
